COACH'S PERSPECTIVE: XC SEASON PREVIEW

State of the Program with Rod DeHaven, Director of Cross Country and Track and Field

As the South Dakota State University men's and women's cross-country teams regrouped after a summer of training, head coach Rod DeHaven had one message for them: "Stay consistent."

Both the men's and women's team are coming off successful 2021 campaigns in which they each captured the Summit League team and individual titles. DeHaven, who will enter his 18^th year at the helm, is optimistic at both of his squad's chances again this fall.

On the men's side, a loaded team returns seven of the top 10 runners from last year's championship team, including four of the top five.

"With our men's team, we have a veteran group that had a pretty good summer," DeHaven said. "I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was pretty good summer relative to where they're at right now and for what lies ahead."

Ben Olson, runner-up at last year's championship, returns after a successful indoor and outdoor track campaign. Max Selbach, a senior, also returns after lowering his outdoor 5,000 meter PR to 14:15.69. Thomas Breuckman, another senior, and Joseph Minor-Williams, a senior, will both be back for the Jackrabbits after successful track seasons.

The bevy of experience should bode well for the senior laden class, most of whom have never lost a Summit League cross-country championship that they have competed in. As DeHaven points out, three guys have the potential to win five straight Summit League team titles—something that has only been done once (Gabe Peters, last year's individual conference champ) and will likely never be done again.

"Winning doesn't get old but sometimes it can take the edge off you," DeHaven said. "For us to do anything that we really can look back on and say, 'hey, this is impressive,' we've got to keep that edge."

In terms of historical significance, DeHaven believes this might be the most competitive team that SDSU has ever produced. This includes the 1985 Division II National Championship team, who at the time was considered to be nearly as good as the nation's top Division I programs.

DeHaven also expects a "second-year jump" from last year's freshman class, including Jacob Knodle, Ben Anteau, Kyle Nordling, Noah Stewart, Andrew Johnson, Cormick Logue, and Cody Larson.

As for newcomers, two freshmen will be joining the men's squad: William Lohr, from Sioux City North High School, and Caeden Johnson, from West Fargo Sheyenne High School. Also, Lucas Caminiti, who transferred in at semester last winter, will make his debut on the grass this fall after running 9:03.84 in the steeplechase last spring.

DeHaven considers his team to be favorites heading into the season but has made it clear to his team that it will not be "easy" by any stretch.

"Don't discount what the rest of the league is capable of," DeHaven has said to his team.

The women's team will also look to repeat after last year's one-point championship win over North Dakota State University. Individual champ Leah Hansen returns for her junior season as does sophomore Caitlin Bright, who saw some marked improvement on the track last semester. Junior Kayla Christopherson, a member of last year's conference team, is also back for the Jackrabbits after making huge strides in the offseason. Claire Beckman, another member of last year's team, will enter her sophomore year for the Jacks as will Jaide Geurts.

The relative youth of this year's team isn't necessarily a concern for DeHaven as he believes they will have plenty of time to gel as the season moves along.

"I think there's some women that made steps forward in their consistency and their ability to handle bigger volume this summer, which was good," DeHaven said. "So, I think right now were a little bit of unknown commodity but I'm optimistic about where this team is headed."

As for newcomers, DeHaven brought in a large freshman class including Nina Dawson, from Willmar High School; Kadense Dooley, from Custer High School; Taelor Dummer, from Alexandria (MN) High School; Emma Ecker, from Alexandria (MN) High School; Emma Gonzales from Burns (WY) High School; Tessa Nelson, from Brookings High School; Hannah Spoden, from Stephen-Sartell (MN) High School; and Sierra Watterud, from Williston High School.

DeHaven also brought in a last second transfer: Mya Kizer from the University of Akron. Kizer is a sophomore eligibility wise and spent the summer training in the mountains of Utah.

According to DeHaven, the favorite on the women's side is NDSU but he likes his team's chances to surprise some people as the season goes along.

The schedule for the men and women sets up similarly to year's past. A large majority of the team will run at both the Augustana Twilight on Sept. 2 and the SDSU Classic—held at Edgebrook Golf Course—a week later.

The season kicks into a higher gear at the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota, a highly competitive meet that will see ranked teams from both coasts travel to Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

After Griak, the teams will split, with the men traveling to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the Weis-Crockett Invitational—which will serve as this year's "Pre-Nationals" meet—while the women will travel to Peoria, Illinois for the Bradley Pink Classic.

The University of North Dakota will play host to this year's Summit League Cross Country Championship on Oct. 29.

The NCAA Midwest Regional will be held in Columbia, Missouri this year on Nov. 11 where SDSU will look to qualify student-athletes for the NCAA National Championship meet, which will be hosted by Oklahoma St. on Nov. 19.

As for any training adjustments this year, DeHaven's main focus is to have the team train more on grass.

"We're trying to not rely on surfaces that don't match up to what we are racing on," DeHaven said. "So more tempo stuff on grass than what we've done in the past. We need to be able to commit to a faster (pace) and rhythm on grass, which is the only way to have success at that next level."

The other notable change around this year's program is the return of Alex Muntefering, who will serve as an assistant coach. Muntefering previously served as an assistant for the Jacks from 2015 to 2016

"It's a huge asset to have a veteran coach that has experience leading his own program and doing it in a very successful manner," DeHaven said. "It's very lucky to have that timing work out that Alex was able to come back. He's somebody that knows SDSU, knows our program, knows me and is comfortable with student-athletes in this region. He also has a proven track record of developing student-athletes."

In between stops at SDSU, Muntefering coached at Texas St. University, helping the Bobcats to multiple Sun Belt titles on the track.

SDSU will kick off the season on Friday, Sept. 2 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls. The gun for the women's 5,000 meter race goes off at 8:30 p.m. while the men's four mile race will begin at 9:00 p.m.

-GoJacks.com-

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Players Mentioned

Ben Anteau

Claire Beckman

Thomas Breuckman

Caitlin Bright

Lucas Caminiti

Kayla Christopherson

Nina Dawson

Kadense Dooley

Emma Ecker

Jaide Geurts

Emma Gonzalez

Leah Hisken

Andrew Johnson

Mya Kizer

Jacob Knodle

Cody Larson

Cormick Logue

Will Lohr

Joseph Minor-Williams

Tessa Nelson

Kyle Nordling

Ben Olson

Gabe Peters

Max Selbach

Hannah Spoden

Noah Stewart

Sierra Watterud

South Dakota State University Athletics